Historical Weather Events

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 10 January

From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast

...1800...Savannah, GA received a foot and a half of snow, and ten inches blanketed Charleston, SC. It was the heaviest snowfall of record for the immediate Coastal Plain of the southeastern U.S. (David Ludlum)
...1836...A major winter storm, known as "the big snow", dumped 30 to 40 inches of the white stuff over northern Pennsylvania, interior New York, and western Pennsylvania. The storm also buried the coastal plain with 15 inches at Philadelphia, PA, 18 inches at New York City, and 24 inches across southern New Jersey. (Intellicast)
...1911...The temperature at Rapid City, SD plunged 47 Fahrenheit degrees in just fifteen minutes. (The Weather Channel)
...1949...Snow was reported at San Diego, CA for the first and only time since 1882. Snow was noted even on some of the beaches in parts of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Burbank reported 4.7 inches, and Long Beach and Laguna Beach received one inch of snow. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
...1975...The "Storm of the Century" hit Minnesota. A severe blizzard moved northward across the state producing up to two feet of snow (23.5 inches of snow fell at Duluth). High winds drove wind chill readings to 80 degrees below zero, and at Duluth, MN the barometric pressure dipped to 28.55 inches (966.8 millibars). The storm, which claimed 35 lives, occurred on the 102^nd anniversary of the infamous "Pioneer Blizzard" in Minnesota. (David Ludlum)
...1981...A severe arctic blast covered the eastern two-thirds of the country. Records were set throughout the Midwest and the northern plains with the lowest temperature at 36 degrees below zero at Sault Ste Marie, MI. Wind chills went down to 50 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 98 below reported at Fargo, ND. (Intellicast)
...1982...A massive high pressure area (31.15 inches or 1054.9 millibars) over central Saskatchewan with a ridge south to Texas brought record cold weather to the nation's midsection. The lowest temperature in the nation was 37 degrees below zero at Bemidji, MN. All time lows were set at O'Hare and Midway airports in Chicago with 26 degrees below zero. High winds drove the wind chill reading to 77 degrees below zero at O'Hare. The temperature in Downtown Chicago reached 23 degrees below zero. New records were set with 23 degrees below zero at Moline, IL and Peoria, IL. Milwaukee's all-time low was equaled with 25 degrees below zero and in Cincinnati, OH, the temperature was 9 below at game time for the Bengals-Chargers NFL playoff game, which has been dubbed the "Freezer Bowl." (The wind was blowing over 50 mph, making the wind chill factor 59 degrees below zero according to the old formulation, but to 35 degrees below zero using the new NWS formula). Forty-one stations reported new daily minimum temperatures. A week later a second arctic surge sent the temperature plunging back down to 25 degrees below zero in Chicago. (Intellicast) (Weather Channel) (National Weather Summary)
...1987...Bitter cold air invaded the Rocky Mountain Region, with subzero readings reported as far south as Gallop, NM. Pocatello, ID reported a record low reading of 14 degrees below zero. (National Weather Summary)
...1988...A storm in the northwestern U.S. produced wind gusts to 97 mph at Netarts, OR, and up to two feet of snow in the mountains of Oregon. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1989...The first documented January tornado of record in Utah struck the south part of Sandy. Asphalt shingles were driven one half inch into a fence. (The Weather Channel) Clear skies, light winds, and up to 24 inches of snow cover, allowed the temperature to plunge to 45 degrees below zero at Roseau, MN, and to -43 degrees at Warroad, MN. The afternoon high at Grand Forks, ND was 16 degrees below zero. (National Weather Summary)
...1990...Strong southerly winds ahead of a Pacific cold front helped temperatures in the central U.S. soar as much as 50 degrees during the day. A total of fifty cities in the central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, with afternoon highs in the 70s reported as far north as Nebraska and eastern Colorado. Highs of 53 degrees at Devils Lake, ND, 76 at Grand Island, NE, 73 at Lincoln, NE, and 73 at North Platte, NE, all established records for the month of January. (National Weather Summary)
...1993...The greatest single snowstorm ever at Salt Lake City, UT ended. The four-day storm dumped 23.3 inches of snow on the city breaking the previous record of 21.6 inches set from 12 to 15 March 1944. (Intellicast)
...1996...A clipper-type system produced more snow over the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. On the 9^th, 3-6 inches of snow fell in the Washington, DC-Baltimore, MD area, still digging out from the blizzard just two days earlier. The clipper intensified over the waters just east of New England on the 10^th and produced up to 9 inches of snow over northeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. The 5.4 inches at Boston raised its snow cover to 32 inches -- its greatest depth ever recorded. The 2.6 inches at Philadelphia brought its monthly snow total to 33.7 inches -- its snowiest month on record. This was the third snowstorm to affect the region in a week. (Intellicast)

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